Carrier weapon systems are those which employ a warhead unit containing one or more munitions to deliver those munitions to a point where they are deployed by ejection from the carrier housing either separately or all at once.
Various mechanisms have been devised to release and eject munitions from carrier weapon systems. Such mechanisms require two basic features to carry out that task. First, the munitions are retained in the carrier housing and remain so until they are to be deployed. Thus, it is necessary to disengage the munitions from the housing when the time of deployment arrives. Second, the munitions must be ejected from the housing.
The delivery of large length to diameter ratio munitions has particularly necessitated the development of such lateral and radial ejection systems for use with missile and dispenser delivery systems. This development, in combination with the use of soft munitions (i.e., munitions which can not withstand high acceleration loads during ejection) has presented a technical challenge. Most current lateral and radial ejection systems employ some type of inflatable bladder system to impart the expulsion force to the munition. Most of these bladders have been cylindrical in configuration, with a few being rectangular. A gas generator is used for inflation of the bladder. However, the current systems tend to utilize extremely large bladders having long strokes to obtain relatively low acceleration loads. This results in a very inefficient system that does not control the acceleration loads in a predictable and tailored fashion.
Current inflatable systems utilize either basic gun propellants or other propellants in a pellet configuration which burns in a regressive or neutral manner.. This type of propellant burning profile normally produces a regressive flow of gas into the inflatable device. This is the opposite of the most desirable flow because the contact surface area, or footprint area, of the bladder to the munition is usually decreasing with time, which requires an increase in bladder pressure to maintain a near constant or increasing acceleration level. None of the systems heretofore developed reliably provide for constant or tailored acceleration.
Current systems further utilize more propellant than necessary to obtain the amount of gas necessary in the initial phase of the ejection process. This can be seen by examining pressure traces for inflatable bladders which show the pressure continuing to increase after the munition has been ejected. This indicates the propellant is still burning.
It is an object of this invention to provide a system for ejecting munitions from a housing in a manner whereby acceleration loads can be controlled and tailored.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a system in which the dynamic characteristics of the inflatable bladder, such as volume and footprint area, can be tailored and controlled.
It is also an object of the invention to provide such a system where the rate of gas flow into the bladder can be tailored and controlled.
It is another object of the invention to minimize the size and weight of hardware needed to accomplish the #functioning of the system.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system which can be used with inflatable bladders of varying shapes and dimensions.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a system capable of accommodating various acceleration-sensitive functions, such as munition arming.